The Giants looked like they would build on their impressive win from the nigh before as they broke out to a 3-0 lead. Alas, moving Ross Stripling from SP to a bulk innings role was not the solution to his shockingly poor start to the season and the lead disappeared over the OF fences of Chase Field and things deteriorated from there. Key Lines:
Lamonte Wade Jr 1B/CF- 3 for 5, 2B. BA= .276. LMWJ led off the game with an oppo field single and scored on Joc Pederson's HR. He has now reached base 13 times in 25 PA's while leading off the first inning. BR does not list how many first inning runs he has scored.
J. D. Davis 3B- 3 for 5. BA= .308.
Joc Pederson DH- 1 for 1, HR(5), 2 BB. BA= .235. Joc's been scuffling a bit. Hopefully this is a game that gets him going.
Michael Conforto RF- 2 for 4, HR(6). BA= .180. Conforto has been a rally killer too. Kruk and Kuip commented on the improved AB's in this game. The HR came at the end of an extended AB.
Casey Schmitt SS- 1 for 4, 2B. BA= .563. I missed the excitement of Thursday's game but Schmitt added a nice oppo-field double get the the winning run to the plate in the 8'th inning. The double came with runners on first and third with 2 outs and rattled round down the RF corner which gave hope it might drive in both runners. Alas, Gary Hallberg held up the trailing runner, Conforto, at 3B and Wilmer left both runners stranded with a ground out.
Ross Stripling RHP- 3.1 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 2 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 7.14. Unfortunately, Stripling is the story of this game. He entered in the 2'nd inning after a scoreless Opening by Brebbia and promptly went single, walk, K, HR with the HR coming on Dominic Fletcher's first career MLB HR. Evan Longoria DH went deep twice the next inning. The first time the ball hooked foul, confirmed on replay but he straightened out the next one and the Giants were trailing in a game they started with a 3-0 lead. So what's wrong with Ross Stripling? In his partial defense, the ump squeezed him several times forcing him to put pitches deeper in the strike zone which almost nobody can get away with against MLB hitters. On the other hand, as Kruk pointed out, his breaking balls just aren't spinning enough to have the downward bite they need. Hanging breaking balls tend to go a long way when MLB hitters swing at them. HR/FB is a ratio that tends to regress to mean over time and Stripling's is astronomical so far, but right now he is also failing the eye test.
Anthony DeSclafani RHP tries to get the the Giants back on the winning side the evening facing Zac Gallen RHP.
Churn Watch:
Alex Wood LHP was activated of the IL and gave up a run in 1 IP. He's slated to start Monday against the Phillies in Oracle Park. Cole Waites RHP was optioned back to AAA Sacramento.
This team is actually incredibly close to getting hot. There are a few players who should be skipped in the rotation and a few tweaks needed in the bullpen but the offense is about to start mashing. Conforto’s swing is getting dialed in and Haniger isn’t far behind. Both those guys when right are borderline all-stars and although I had my doubts its pretty clear that Wade deserves no shade. What he is doing primarily out of the leadoff spot is masterful.
ReplyDeleteI want more out of Joc besides a bomb every 1-2 weeks and Yaz should help when he gets back. Davis and Thairo are all you could hope for and more. Bart isn’t hurting us and could continue to develop but Schmidt is the guy who could tie it all together.
This kid is special and I’m not talking about just his bat and glove. He is the type of young player who can ignite the powder keg and his tools speak loudly on the field. In a way he could be what Posey was to the 2010 team. Might be time to bring up Kyle Bumgarner er Harrison!
Love the optimism. The pitching issues look to be quite deep though. Hope they can turn it around before it's too late.
DeleteJust about every day, the Giants will do something to make you want to tune out - not often with 1 out in the top of the 1st!
DeleteYou'd think that a guy in his 9th year of professional ball after 3 years of college in a good program, would know to pick up the ball by the time you get to 2nd base.
There's no fixing stupid...
The Giants can win 3 or 4 in spurts but lose 3 of 5 otherwise because they have issues offensively, defensively, relief pitching, and 2 of 5 in starting pitching.
DeleteThis is not an easy fix beyond staying close to at best 78-80 wins. Realistically, with some tweaks, an 82-win season would be a success, but a lot of things need fixing to get that far.
Future success, beyond 2023, must come from the system, but Webb is the only player on the team DRAFTED since Crawford who is contributing with all eyes on Schmitt being the second. (Arguably, Tyler Rogers might be a second contributor but his value peaked 2 years ago.)
There are some international players signed before the Zaidi era that still may be contributors (Luciano, Matos, Pomares), but the future lies with those brought in by Zaidi since late 2018 – just 4½ years ago – to lead the way. You can't develop faster than that when the roster and the farm are barren.
Shawn Estes said some interesting stuff on a recent KNBR podcast about Sean Manaea and Sean Hjellie. Manaea is throwing 3 mph harder on his fastball and slider then at anytime in his career. He is trying to regain command of his fastball and slider due to his increased velocity. The only way for him to figure it out is to keep giving him the reps. At least he's not like madbum who sadly lost his stuff. Hjellie has the same problem as Manaea but at least he can figure it out in AAA.
DeleteAlso don't like how they're using Tristin Beck. They'd use him in long mop up roles, then today put him in the game in the 8th inning with the game still in reach. Bochy seemed to have roles for all his relief pitchers, not sure if Kap does. Why not use Beck to start every 5th day, they have bulk inning pitchers like Junis and Stripling available as bulk inning pitchers who can back him up
DeleteI think I said all they way back when everybody was cheering Bochy's retirement and giddy over the new regime that a day would come when they missed Bochy's ability to make the right call to the bullpen. What is the old saying? 90% of in-game management is managing the pitching staff? Bochy might be the best at it I've ever seen in 55 years of watching baseball and it might be Kapler's biggest weakness.
DeleteKapler = Matchups
DeleteKap plays matchups but I feel like that is an oversimplification. Bochy was all about matchups too but his approach was more like how a smart human brain would approach matchups vs an AI computer(IDK anything about AI, but that's how it strikes me). Of course Bochy didn't have to deal with things like the 3-batter rule during most of his Giants managing tenure.
DeleteOf course, you can play matchups til the cows come home and it only works if the players execute. Bochy had the "Core Four" to make his matchup game work. On paper, Kap is working with two RHP's, Brebbia and Tyler Rogers and two LHP's, Alexander and Taylor Rogers. They haven't consistently executed but I do think Kap bears some responsibility for not clearly defining roles. Like if Brebbia is one of your "core four", non-Closer late inning relievers, he shouldn't periodically take him out of that mix as an Opener.
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